Bithumb Review – Buying Bitcoins in Korea

Bithumb
is a cryptocurrency exchange based in Seoul, South Korea. Founded in
2013, it allows for the buying, selling, and storing of Bitcoin as well
as a range of other cryptocurrencies. Not only is it one of the largest
and highest-volume cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea, it’s also
among the global leaders in terms of Bitcoin trading volume.

Operated by a company called BTC Korea.Com Co. Ltd.,
Bithumb’s headquarters are located in Seoul, South Korea. Little more
than this is known about the company as there’s very little information
to be found online. With regard to the platform itself, it’s simple to
use with little in the way of advanced features, making it ideal for
beginners who are seeking a user-friendly platform without too many
complications.

Thankfully, you don’t need to be fluent in Korean to be able
to use Bithumb. The exchange supports multiple languages, with English,
Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, and Hindi also on offer. When it comes to
trading, there are three main trading options: general trading, easy
trading, and reserved trading. These options offer you some flexibility
depending on how you want to buy and sell cryptocurrency.

Currency support

With Bithumb being a cryptocurrency exchange based in South
Korea and primarily serving the people of South Korea, it only offers
trading pairs with the South Korean won (KRW). Unfortunately, there’s no
BTC/ETH pairing available as yet, but this may be made available in the
near future.

Below, you’ll find the full list of the cryptocurrencies currently
offered on Bithumb. Recent months have seen the addition of Litecoin
(LTC), Bitcoin Gold (BTG), and Zcash (ZEC). There were rumors that
Bithumb would be adding NEO, but this hasn’t happened as of yet.

Bitcoin (BTC)

Ethereum (ETH)

Dash (DASH)

Litecoin (LTC)

Ethereum Classic (ETC)

Ripple (XRP)

Bitcoin Cash (BCH)

Monero (XMR)

Zcash (ZEC)

Qtum (QTUM)

Bitcoin Gold (BTG)

Bithumb country support

As with most crypto exchanges, Bithumb is available to most
countries. In fact, it even offers international customer support.
However, it’s worth checking the legality of cryptocurrency in your
location before trading. Also keep in mind that the only fiat currency
option is the won; there’s no option to trade with USD, EUR, or GBP.

Bithumb fees

Bithumb’s fees are competitive. Making a deposit to Bithumb is free.
This is the case whether you’re depositing won or a cryptocurrency such
as Bitcoin or Ethereum. Withdrawing won carries a 1,000 KRW fee, which
is equivalent to $0.92 as of the time of writing this article. With
regard to withdrawing crypto, the fees are as follows:

Bitcoin (BTC): 0.0005 Bitcoin

Ethereum (ETH): 0.01 Ethereum

Dash (DASH): 0.01 Dash

Litecoin (LTC): 0.01 Litecoin

Ethereum Classic (ETC): 0.01 Ethereum Classic

Ripple (XRP): 0.01 Ripple

Bithumb’s low fees are one of its main advantages. However, even
though its trading fees are low, if you’re located outside of South
Korea, you’re unlikely to benefit from this as you’ll have to factor in
conversion rates and international transfer fees.

Bithumb customer support

While cryptocurrency exchanges make buying and selling crypto
relatively quick and easy, they often disappoint when it comes to
customer support. Bithumb does offer a 24/7 customer support service.
What’s more, there’s international customer support available in
English. So if you’re interested in using this South Korean
cryptocurrency exchange, you can at least do so with the knowledge that
there’s help if you need it.

According to Bithumb’s official website, international calls are
charged at a normal national rate. However, if you’re not keen on
calling abroad, you can contact them via email.

Public opinion and online reviews

There isn’t a huge amount of information to be found in English
regarding Bithumb because the vast majority of its users are based in
South Korea. However, there have been some online reviews of Bithumb.
The general consensus is that it’s a high-volume exchange with
reasonable fees.

Bithumb is South Korea’s most popular cryptocurrency exchange, as is
evidenced by its high trading volumes, particularly in the case of
Bitcoin. However, this exchange isn’t without its issues; 2017 saw two
notable problems that made headlines in the world of crypto.

In July 2017, Bithumb was reportedly hacked,
with some 1.2 billion won stolen from the accounts of users. There’s
some debate about the source of the hack. Bithumb denied that its
servers had been hacked, stating that the home computer of one of its
employees had been compromised.

Whatever the case, an estimated 30,000 users are said to have been
affected. Following the Bithumb hack, Bithumb announced plans to
compensate users. If anything, the experience was a great reminder not
to leave large amounts of currency on exchanges. Instead, transfer your
coins to a wallet for safekeeping.

Another problem occurred in November 2017 when Bithumb servers crashed
as a huge number of users tried to sell their Bitcoin Cash. This
resulted in many users losing significant amounts of money as the price
dropped rapidly. Again, this sends us a message that it’s unwise to
place unconditional trust in any cryptocurrency exchange, as anything
can happen.

Conclusion

Overall, Bithumb
is a simple cryptocurrency exchange that is relatively easy to use.
However, experienced traders will likely prefer other exchanges due to
Bithumb’s lack of advanced features. The low fees and 24/7 customer
support are definitely advantages, but these may be negated by the fact
that you’ll have to consider exchange rates and international transfer
fees if you’re not based in South Korea.

There are also some concerns about the security and
reliability of Bithumb, and this is not helped by the fact that there’s
very little information about the company online.